^. 


^^.^-v^ 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


fe 


^/ 


■^'  ,.V^^. 


,V 


<  ^• 


.V 


/. 


y. 


<" 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


UiKi    |2.S 

|50     ■^~       H^H 

1^  1^    |2.2 


ut 


1.4 


2,0 

1.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


^"^^ 


<F 


.\ 


.^x. 


^"^.^  ^^'V'^Q^ 


^^"U 
^^.f^ 


% 


'^ 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


^9) 


f/i 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


> 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  tha 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


0 


D 


D 


D 
D 


D 


0 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommag6e 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicul6e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  v^e  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  no:re) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

Lareliure  serrde  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  ia  marge  int6rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  r>6t-t  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajOLtdes 
lors  d  Miie  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6td  filmdes. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 


□    Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

n    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

n    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculdes 

r~~|    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


D 


Additional  comments;/ 
Commentaires  suppl^mentaires; 


Maps  are  photoreproductiont. 


Pages  d6colordes,  tachetdes  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tachdes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualitd  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


r~|  Pages  detached/ 

r~~l  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I      I  Only  edition  available/ 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  film6es  A  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilieure  image  possible. 


The  c< 
to  the 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film^  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

SOX 

y 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


laire 
I  details 
(ues  du 
It  modifier 
iger  une 
B  filmage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Library  of  the  Public 
Archives  of  Canada 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grAce  A  la 
gAnArositA  de: 

La  bibliothdque  das  Archives 
publiques  du  Canada 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  St6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  netteti  de  l'exemplaire  filmA,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


/ 
j^es 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  examplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimie  sont  film6s  en  commengant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commsnpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — »>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — »•  signifia  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


re 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  ere  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  hue 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grend  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  11  est  filmA  &  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bes,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


y  errata 
)d  to 

nt 

ie  pelure, 

9on  A 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

if 


tA 


1 


[Om 


I' 


THE 


Anticipations  of  Cartier's  Voyages, 


1492-1534. 


BT 


JUSTIjST  winsor. 


"if  t 


[One  Hundebd  Copies,  pritatelt  repbintbd  from  the  Proceedings   of 
THE  Massachusetts  Historical  Societt^  Jaxuart,  1893.) 


CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A. 
JOHN    WILSON    AND    SON. 

ilnibersits  ^re»i. 
1893. 


11 


\] 


:^^., 


i 


THK 


ANTICIPATIONS  OF  CARTIER'S  VOYAGES 


1492-1584. 


It  was  not  long  after  the  discovery  of  Columbus  before  it 
became  evident  to  some,  at  least,  that  he  had  not  found  any 
part  of  the  world  neighboring  to  Cathay,  however  remotely 
connected  with  the   Orient  of  Marco   Polo  the  new  regions 
might  prove  to  be.     After  the  return  of  Columbus  in  1403, 
it  is  apparent  that  Peter  Martyr  hesitated    to    believe    tiiat 
Asia  had   been  reached.      It   was  quite  clear  on   his  second 
voyage  that  Columbus  himself  felt  uncertain  of  his  proximity 
to.  Asia,  when,  to  preserve  his  credit  with  the  Spanish  sov- 
ereigns, he  forced  his  companions,  against  the  will  of  more 
than  half  of  them,  and  on  penalty  of  personal  violence  if  they 
recanted,  to  make  oath  that  Cuba  was  an  Asiatic  peninsula.    He 
even  took  steps  later  to  prevent  one  of  the  recalcitrant  victims 
going  back  to  Spain,  for  fear  such  representations  would  unsettle 
the  royal  faith  in  their  having  reached  the  fabled  Orient.  When 
the  pilot,  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  who  was  one  of  those  forced  to 
perjure  themselves,  found  himself  free  to  make  Cuba  an  island 
in  his  map  of  1500,  the  fact  that  he  put  no  Asiatic  names  on 
the  coast  of  a  continent  west  of  Cuba  has  been  held  to  show 
that  the  doubt  of  its  being  Asia  had  already  possessed  his 
mind.     The  makers  of  the  Cantino  and  Canerio  maps,  in  1502 
and  1503  respectively,  in  putting  in  a  coast  for  Asia  distinct 
from  this  continent  which  La  Cosa  had  delineated,  establishes 
the    point  that  as  early  as  the  first  years  of    the  sixteentii 
century  the  cartographers  whose  works  have  come  down  to 
us  had  satisfied  themselves  that  areas  of  land  of  continental 
proportions  had  blocked  farther  progress  to  the  west.     The 
geographical  question    tlien  uppermost  was  thus  reduced  to 
this:    Was  this  barrier  a  new  continent,  or  had  the  islands 


which  it  was  supposed  would  be  i'oiind  in  the  patli  to  Asia 
proved  to  he  hirocr  than  was  iinajjfined  ?  It  was  '.'ohimbus's 
piirj  ose  in  his  foiii'tii  voyage  to  find  an  opening  in  tiiis  harrier 
through  wlncli  to  reach  the  territories  of  the  Asiatic  poten- 
tates and  continue  tiie  circumnavigation  of  the  eartli.  It 
may,  then,  well  be  (piestioned  if  tiie  statement  ordinarily 
made,  that  Columbus  in  loOO  died  in  ignora.ice  of  tiie  true 
geographical  conditions  pertaining  to  a  new  continent,  is  true, 
whatever  may  have  been  his  profession  in  the  matter.  Tiiere 
is,  as  we  have  seen,  good  ground  for  the  beliel"  that  he  did  not 
mean  the  S[)anisii  sovereigns  to  be  awakened  from  a  duli;sion 
in  whicli  he  d(;emed  it  for  his  interests  that  they  should 
remain. 

When  Balboa,  twenty  years  after  Columbus's  discovery, 
mad(!  it  more  pal[)able  tiiat  south  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
there  was  a  substantial  barrier  to  Avestern  progress,  and  when 
ten  years  later  Magellan  pierced  tiiis  soathein  barrier  at  its 
Antarctic  extremity,  it  st'U  remained  a  problem  to  find  out 
the  true  character  of  the  northern  barrier  to  western  progress, 
and  to  find  a  place  to  enter  the  land  along  a  northern  parallel 
far  enough  to  reach  the  historic  India. 

There  were  two  waterways  by  which  this  northern  land 
could  lii've  been  explored  far  inland  ;  but  for  forty  years  after 
the  landfall  of  Columbus,  it  is  not  safe  to  allirm  positively 
that  any  one  had  attempted  to  follow  their  channels.  A  local 
pride  among  the  rugged  sea-folk  of  the  north  of  France  has 
nevertheless  presented  claims  for  our  consideration  that  one  at 
least  of  these  passages  had  been  tried  at  different  tin.  -'s  early 
in  the  sixteenth  centurv.  Similar  claims  have  been  made  for 
Portuguese  mariners  a  little  later,  and  before  the  attempt  of 
Carticr.  Ilakluyt  even  mentions  that  the  English  liad  known 
at  this  early  date  something  of  this  St.  Lawj-ence  region  ;  but 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  such  record  is  kuowii  to-day.  These 
great  waterways  lay  within  the  two  grsfit  valleys  of  the  yet 
uncomprehended  continent  of  the  north,  —  the  Mississippi  and 
the  St.  Lawrence,  —  which  at  the  west  were  so  closely  con- 
nected that  the  early  explorers  of  the  great  lakes  passed  during 
the  sj)ring  freshets  in  their  canoes  from  one  to  the  other,  by 
that  route  which  enables  the  modern  Chicago  to  discharge 
its  sewage  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  instead  of  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence. 


:h  tt)  Asiii 
!()lumbiis\s 
iii.s  biUTier 
itic  poteii- 
eai'tli.  It 
ordinarily 
it*  tlio  truo 
lit,  is  true, 
jr.  Til  ere 
lie  (lid  not 
IX  dehisiou 
ley  should 

discovery, 
A  Panama 
,  and  when 
frier  at  its 
;o  find  out 
n  progress, 
rn  parallel 

tliern  land 
years  after 
positively 
A  local 
ranee  has 
that  one  at 
in.  .'S  early 
II  made  for 
ittempt  of 
lad  known 
but 
These 
of  the  yet 
issippi  and 
osely  con- 
sed  during 
;  other,  by 
discharg'j 
le  Gulf  of 


egion  ; 


IV 


9 


Tlie  striking  experiences  of  the  S[)aniards  at  the  soutli 
served  to  draw  their  attention  from  a  due  examination  of 
the  northern  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ;  so  that  Pineda 
in  1519,  in  finding  a  great  river  flowing  from  the  north, 
which  we  now  identify  with  the  Mississippi,  was  not  j»rompted 
to  enter  it  in  search  of  gold.  This  metal  was  not  asso- 
ciated in  their  minds  with  such  low  regions  as  this  river 
apparently  drainc  1  ;  and  the  white  and  turbid  How  of  its 
waters  well  out  into  the  gulf,  as  La  Salh;  later  noticed,  seems 
to  have  raised  no  conception  of  the  vast  area  of  its  tributary 
vatcrshed.  Almost  two  centuries  w(!re  to  pass  before  its 
channel  was  to  be  fairly  recognized  as  a  great  continental 
waterway ;  and  then  the  explorations  which  divulged  its 
extent  were  from   the  north  and  down   the  stream. 

The  voyages  of  the  Cabots  and  the  Cortereals  had  been  the 
outcome  of  a  national  rivalry  which  had  sought  for  England 
and  Portugal  some  advantage  in  the  north  to  counterbalance 
that  of  Spain  in  the  south.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
line  of  demarcation  moved  westerly  by  the  treaty  of  Tor- 
desillas,  had  thrown,  it  was  supposed,  these  northern  regions 
beyond  the  reach  of  Spanish  rights.  Whether  the  Cabots 
had  discovered  at  the  north  a  gulf  to  correspond  with  the 
Mexican  gulf  at  the  south, .and  had  found  an  expanse  of  water 
which  had  already  coursed  another  great  continental  valley, 
and  by  which  it  was  practicable  to  go  a  long  distance  towards 
the  west,  must  probably  remain  uncertain.  Investigation  in 
critical  hands  has  produced  a  divided  opinion.  Just  what 
the  Portuguese,  who  soon  followed  the  English  into  these 
waters,  did,  is  also  not  quite  certain;  and  though  it  can 
hardly  be  proved  that  the  Cortereals  entered  the  great  north- 
ern gulf,  it  seems  to  be  evident  from  a  Portuguese  portolano 
of  1504,  which  Kunstmann  has  reproduced,  that  at  this  time 
they  had  not  developed  the  entrances  to  this  gulf  north  and 
w«st  of  Newfoundland ;  while  it  is  clear  by  the  Reinel  chart 
of  1505,  that  they  had  discovered  but  had  not  penetrated 
these  passages. 

The  student  in  Europe  who  curiously  watched  the  progress 
of  geographical  development  beyond  the  sea  during  the  six- 
teenth century  naturally  followed  the  revelations  in  the  suc- 
cessive editions  of  the  "Geographia"  of  Ptolemy,  with  the  new 
maps  of  recent  progress  made  to  supplement  those  long  familiar 


6 


as  ptTtaining  to  tlie  Old  World.  The  inau  w'  )  made  the  map 
for  the  Koman  Ptolemy  of  1507-8  is  believed  to  have  been 
a  companion  of  Cabot  in  these  northern  voyayes ;  and  this 
work  of  Johann  Rnysch  is  the  earliest  engraved  map  which 
we  have  showing  the  new  discoveries.  This  map  is  interesting 
as  making  more  apparent  than  La  Cosa,  seven  or  eight  years 
before,  had  done,  that  these  new  discoveries  might  have  been 
in  part  along  the  coast  of  Asia,  but  not  altogether  so.  There 
is  no  sign  in  it  of  the  landlocked  regirtn  where  now  we  place 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ;  and  in  this  respect  it  is  a  strong  disproof 
of  the  alleged  voyage  of  Vespucius  in  141>7  ;  but  it  does  give 
the  beginning  of  a  continental  area,  which  was  soon  to  de- 
velop, adjacent  to  the  West  Indies,  into  what  we  call  North 
America.  But  at  the  north  lluysch  places  the  discoveries  of 
the  English  and  Portuguese  unmistakably  on  the  upper  Asiatic 
coast;  and  while  he  does  not  dissever  Newfoundland  from  the 
mainland,  he  goes  some  way  towards  doing  it. 

Ho  we  may  say  that  in  1507,  one  working  in  Rome  with  the 
available  material  which  had  been  gathered  from  the  Atlantic 
seaports,  had  not  yet  reached  a  conception  of  this  great 
watery  portal  of  a  continent  which  lies  back  of  Newfound- 
land. Whether  there  might  not  have  been  knowledge  of  this 
great  gulf  in  some  of  the  seaports  of  northern  and  western 
France  may  indeed  admit  of  doubt ;  and  perhaps  some  day  a 
dated  chart  may  reveal  the  fact.  We  need  not  confidently 
trust  the  professions  of  Michel  and  other  advocates  of  the 
Basques,  and  believe  that  a  century  before  Cabot  their  hardy 
fishermen  had  discovered  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  and 
had  even  penetrated  into  the  bays  and  inlets  of  the  adjacent 
coasts.  There  seems,  however,  little  doubt  that  very  early  in 
the  sixteenth  century  fishing  equipments  for  these  regions 
were  made  by  the  Normans,  as  Brdard  chronicles  them  in  his 
'*  Documents  relatifs  a  la  Normand." 

In  the  very  year  when  the  Ruysch  map  became  knov^n 
in  Europe  (1508),  it  is  claimed  by  Desmarquets  and  other 
Dieppese,  solicitous  for  the  credit  of  their  seaport,  that  Tliomas 
Aubert  went  eighty  leagues  up  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  If 
this  be  true,  the  great  northern  portal  was  entered  then  for 
the  first  time,  so  far  as  we  have  any  record.  We  learn  from 
Charlevoix  —  too  late  an  authority  to  be  assuring  —  that  Jean 
Denys  had  made  a  chart  of  the  west  shore  of  the  Gulf  two 


e  the  map 
lave  been 

and  this 
nap  whicli 
nteresting 
[g\\t  years 
lave  been 
o.     There 

we  place 
fr  disproof 
does  give 
on  to  de- 
3all  North 
overies  of 
)er  Asiatic 
1  from  the 

B  with  the 

e  Atlantic 

this   great 

^ewfound- 

ge  of  this 

d  western 

»me  day  a 

onfidently 

es  of  the 

leir  hardy 

and,  and 

adjacent 

y  early  in 

e  regions 

em  in  his 

e  knoivn 
ind  other 
t  Tliomas 
liver.  If 
then  for 
arn  from 
that  Jean 
Gulf  two 


years  earlier  (loOO) ;  l)nt  the  evidence  to  pro\e  it  is  wanting. 
This  map  is  said  to  have  been  formerly  preser\'ed  in  the  Paris 
Archives,  but  is  not  found  there  or  elsewhere  at  th.is  day. 
What  passes  for  a  copy  of  it,  treasured  at  Ottawa,  shows 
names  of  a  {)alpal)ly  later  period.  If  the  rvicrinal  could  be 
discovered,  it  might  be  found  possibly  that  ti.  nomenclature 
had  been  added  by  a  more  recent  hand.  The.  does  not  seem 
to  be  anything  in  the  configuration  of  its  shore  lines  that  might 
not  have  been  achieved  in  1500  by  a'l  active  navigat*  v.  if 
the  outline  freed  from  the  names  is  genuine,  it  would  '.ow 
that  there  had  thus  early  been  explorations  to  the  west  of 
Newfoundland,  which  might  account  for  the  otherwise  sur- 
prising delineation  of  the  "  Golfo  Quadrado,"  or  S(i[uare  Gulf, 
which  appeared  on  the  mappemonde  of  Sylvanus  in  his  edition 
of  Ptolemy  in  1511.  This  represents  in  raid-ocean  in  the  north 
Atlantic  a  large  island,  little  resembling  Nevvfoundland,  how- 
ever, with  a  landlocked  gulf  to  the  west  of  it,  shut  in  by  a 
coast  which  in  the  north  and  south  parts  bends  so  as  nearly  to 
touch  the  island.  That  it  is  intended  for  Newfoundland  and 
the  neighboring  parts  admits  of  no  question  ;  for  the  strange 
interior  coast  is  considered  to  be  the  region  of  the  V  n-tereal 
discoveries,  since  there  is  upon  it  a  Latinized  renderiiig  of 
that  name,  Regalin  Domus.  Some  explorations  developing 
such  a  gulf,  whether  Denys's  or  those  of  others,  must  have 
alread}'-  taken  place,  then,  before  1511.  After  this  date,  for  a 
score  of  years  and  more,  this  landlocked  wate"  absolutely  dis- 
appears from  all  the  maps  which  have  come  down  to  us,  — 
nothing  remaining  but  indications  of  its:  entrances  by  tl»e 
Straits  of  Belle  Isle  and  by  the  southern  passage. 

France  was  now  to  find  rivalry  in  these  waters  in  the  re- 
newed efforts  of  the  Portuguese.  The  French  had  established 
a  fishing-station  in  Bradore  Bay,  just  within  the  Straits  of 
Belle  Isle,  which  they  called  Brest.  This  was  early  in  the 
century  ;  but  its  precise  date  is  difficult  to  determine.  Show- 
ing some  of  the  activity  of  the  Portuguese,  we  have  a  chart  of 
that  people,  of  not  far  from  1520,  which  indicates  that  they 
had  looked  within  the  "df  both  at  the  north  and  at  the  south, 
but  not  far  enough  .u  discover  its  open  and  extensive  ctiannels. 
If  we  are  to  believe  the  interpretation  which  some  have  put 
upon  a  voyage  ascribed  to  Joam  Alvarez  Fagundes  at  this 
time,  the  Portuguese  had  attained  far  more  knowledge  of  this 


iniicr  <4iilt'  tliiin  tliis  iiiioii}  inous  cliiirt  iiidiciitcs.  Iiuleed,  a 
map,  madt)  in  loCu}  by  Lazaio  Luis,  Iia-i  hoeii  j)iit  forward  as 
indicating  just  what  Faj^iindcs  iiad  done  ;  and  this  dearly 
gives  him  tiie  credit  of  unveiling  the  hydrography  of  the  Gulf, 
80  that  his  results  n)ight  he  considered  to  exceed  in  accuracy 
those  of  Cartier  in  his  first  voyage.  This  map  of  Luis  makes 
the  shores  of  the  gulf  conjplete,  except  a  portion  of  the  inner 
coast  of  Newfoundland,  and  even  gives  the  St.  Lawrence  River 
for  a  long  distance  from  its  mouth.  lieing  made  forty  years 
and  more  after  Fagundes,  the  draughtsman  had  the  tem})ta- 
tion  to  embody  later  results;  and  the  map  naturally  starts  the 
question  if  this  jjosterior  knowledge  was  end)odied  in  it  or 
not.  Since  liettencourt  in  his  "  Descobrimentos  dos  Portu- 
guezes"  brought  forward  this  map,  in  lSHl-82,  its  pretensions 
in  this  resjJecL  have  been  studied,  and  often  (questioned;  but 
Dr.  I'atteison,  a  recent  Nova  Scotian  writer,  has  advocated  its 
claims  ;  and  Harrisse  in  his  last  book,  "■'J'he  Discovery  of  North 
America,"  has  committed  himself  to  a  belief  in  the  Fagundes 
explorations,  which  he  had  before  treated  as  very  questionable. 
The  unquestioned  facts  are  these :  Ancient  documents  men- 
tion the  voyage  as  beiiig  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a 
fishing-station.  The  Portuguese  king  liad  also  promised  Fa- 
gundes control  by  ])atent  of  the  regions  which  in  this  tentative 
voyage  he  should  discov»n'.  On  Fagundes's  return  he  reported 
wliat  he  had  found  ;  and  in  accordance  with  his  report,  his 
king,  March  18,  1521,  granted  to  him  these  lands,  supposed 
to  be  a  new  discovery.  This  patent  describes  them,  presum- 
ably in  accordance  with  Fagundes's  report ;  and  it  is  this  de- 
scrij)tion,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  Luis  map,  which  must 
enable  us  to  say  where  Fagundes  had  been. 

The  language  of  the  patent,  not  as  clear  as  we  might  wish, 
says  that  the  coast  which  he  had  found  lay  north  of  those 
known  to  the  Spaniards  and  south  of  that  visited  by  Cortereal, 
which  would  put  it  between  Newfoundland  and  perhaps  the 
Chesapeake,  or  posidbly  a  region  a  little  farther  north  than 
the  Chesapeake.  The  assigned  country  includes,  as  the  patent 
says,  the  Bay  of  Auguada,  which  contains  three  islands ;  a 
stretch  of  coast  where  are  other  islands,  which  he  had  named 
St.  John,  St.  Peter,  St.  Ann,  St.  Anthony,  and  an  archipelago, 
also  named  by  him  the  Eleven  Thousand  Virgins ;  an  island 
"close  to  the  bank,"  which  he  called  Santa  Cruz,  and  a  sec- 


. 
I 


Indeed,  a 
roiward  as 
this  clearly 
)f  the  Gull", 
ill  aeeiinicy 
Luis  makes 
f  the  inner 
reiice  liiver 
forty  years 
he  tenipta- 
y  starts  the 
ed  in  it  or 
dos  Portu- 
pretonsions 
Lioned  ;  hut 
Ivoeated  its 
ry  of  North 
e  Fagundes 
lestionable. 
nents  men- 
ablishing  a 
omised  Fa- 
is  tentative 
le  reported 
report,  his 
,  supposed 
m,  presuni- 

is  this  de- 
kvhich  must 

night  wish, 
h  of  those 
Cortereal, 
eihaps  the 
lorth  than 
the  patent 
islands ;  a 
lad  named 
rchipelago, 
an  island 
and  a  sec- 


ond island  called  St.  Ai?n,  The  patent  closes  with  grantinj^ 
all  these  islands  and  hin  ..<  to  their  di>cover('r. 

(h\  a  eojist  so  crowded  with  islands  and  hays  as  that  of 
Maine  and  N(!W  iJiunswick,  —  api)arently  the  "linn  land"  of 
the  description, —  we  need  more  details  than  tin;  patent  gives 
us  to  determine  beyond  dispute  the  geographical  correspond- 
ences of  these  names.  The  inscription  "  Lavrador  ((  descohrio 
Joaom  Alverez  [Fagundes] ''  is  on  the  Luis  map,  placed  on  the 
peninsula  formed  hy  the  St.  Lawrence  CJiilf  and  the  Atlantic;. 
This,  in  the  opinion  of  Harrisse,  requires  the  Haya  d'  Aiiguada, 
which  is  described  as  having  a  northeast  and  southwest  ex- 
tension, to  be  none  other  than  the  St.  Lawrence  (iulf.  That 
writer  is  convinced  that  the  bav  was  named  the  Watering 
liay,  because  Fagundes  must  have  gone  through  it  to  the  out- 
let of  its  great  river  to  fill  his  water-casks.  He  also  allows 
that  the  three  islands  of  this  bay  may  possibly  have  been 
Prince  Edward,  Anticosti,  and  Orleans;  since  these  islands  in 
the  Jjuis  map  are  all  colored  yellow,  like  a  Portuguese  escutch- 
eon i)laced  on  the  map.  This,  however,  would  have  cairied 
Fagundes  up  the  St.  Lawrence  Jliver  farther  than  he  is  in- 
clined to  believe  ;  and  he  would  rather  substitute  for  the 
island  of  Orleans  the  Magdalen  grouj)  or  some  peninsula  of 
the  gulf  mistaken  for  an  island,  llarrisse  also  applies  rather 
neatly  what  may  be  termed  the  "liturgical"  test  in  respect  to 
all  the  names  mentioned  in  the  patent ;  and  he  finds  that  the 
corresponding  saints'  days  in  the  Uoman  calendar  run  from 
June  21  to  October  21.  This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  it 
was  in  the  summer  and  autumn,  probably  in  1520,  when  these 
names  were  applied,  in  accordance  with  a  habit,  common  with 
explorers  in  those  days,  of  naming  landmarks  after  the  saint 
on  whose  da}'  they  were  discovered.  Another  proof  of  the 
voyage,  also  worked  out  by  the  same  writer,  is  that  names 
which  appear  on  no  map  antedating  this  patent  are  later 
found  for  this  coast  on  the  maps  k';,  vn  by  the  name  of 
Maiollo  (1527),  Verrazano  (1529),  Vieg  <  >  (1534),  Harleyau 
(1542),  Cabot  (1544),  Freire  (1546),  and  Descelliers  (1550). 

This  is  the  nature  of  the  evidence  which  makes  Harrisse 
give  a  map,  tracking  the  progress  of  Fagundes  from  the  time 
he  passed  near  the  islands  of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon.  Jiy  this 
it  would  appear  that  he  coasted  north  the  west  shore  of  New- 
foundland, and  at  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle  turned  and  followed 


10 


the  Labrador  coast  well  within  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  and 
then  returning,  skirted  the  New  Brunswick  coast,  that  of 
Prince  Edward's  Island,  Capo  Breton,  and  Nova  Scotia  to  the 
entrance  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  where  he  bore  away  seaward, 
and  returned  to  Portugal.  Few,  we  suspect,  will  accej  this 
route  of  Fagundes  as  proved.  Most  will  be  content  to  ac- 
knowledge the  fact  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  gulf  and 
its  neighboring  waters  rather  than  such  an  extent  of  the 
acquaintance. 

The  advocates  of  these  Portuguese  anticipations  of  Cartier 
point  to  the  melons  and  cucumbers  which  that  navigator 
found  among  the  natives  of  the  gulf  region  as  indictiting 
that  Europeans  had  left  the  seeds  of  such  fruits  among  them. 
They  also  think  that  Cartier's  own  recitals  leave  the  impres- 
sion that  the  Indians  of  the  St.  Lawrence  had  before  his  ad- 
vent become  used  to  European  contact.  It  is  known,  however, 
that  the  Indians  of  the  interior  had  long  been  used  to  resort 
to  the  shores  of  the  gulf  and  its  vicinity  during  the  summer 
season ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  by  this  habit,  as  well  as  by 
a  oommon  custom  of  intertribal  communication,  the  ways  of 
Europeans  were  not  unknown  in  the  interior. 


A  belief  in  a  comparatively  short  stretch  of  unknown  sea 
separating  the  Azores  from  Cathay  had  been  no  small  induce- 
ment to  Columbus  to  make  his  hazardous  voyage.  Now  that 
the  land  to  the  west  had  proved  so  far  a  barrier  to  a  farther 
westward  way,  it  was  in  turn  no  small  inducement  to  those 
prompted  to  piei'ce  this  barrier  to  believe  that  the  land  which 
confronted  them  was  even  narrower  than  the  ocean  had  been 
thought  to  be.  Balboa  had  proved  how  narrow  the  land  was 
at  Panama,  and  Cortes  had  shown  that  it  was  not  wide  in 
Mexico.     How  wide  was  it  farther  north  ? 

Columbus  had  suspected  that  South  America  was  of  con- 
tinental extent,  because  of  the  great  volume  of  water  which 
the  Orinoco  poured  into  the  Gulf  of  Paria.  Ships  when  out 
of  sight  of  land  had  filled  their  water-casks  from  the  water 
poured  out  by  the  Amazon,  which  told  of  an  immense  inland 
drainage.  None  of  the  early  navigators  remarked  upon  any- 
thing of  the  kind  at  the  north.  The  flow  of  the  Mississippi 
did  not  seem  to  impress  them  as  indicating  an  enormous 
valley  towards  its  source.     The  early  maps  given  to  portray- 


11 


ing  its  supposed  system  of  drainage  represent  it  as  very  scant. 
On  the  eastern  seaboard  of  the  nortliern  continent  the  Alle- 
ghany range  rendered  it  impossible  for  any  river  to  have  a 
very  large  volume  of  wp.ter.  It  was  oidy  when  one  got  {is 
far  north  as  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf,  and  even  into  its  inner 
reaches,  that  evidence  such  as  had  been  indicative  on  the 
coast  of  South  America  could  have  suggested  a  vast  con- 
tinental area  at  the  north.  Therefore,  before  this  revelation 
was  made  in  the  St.  Law  ence  River,  it  is  not  strange  that 
there  were  current  views  against  the  continental  character  of 
the  region  lying  north  of  the  Mexican  gulf  and  west  of  the 
country  discovered  by  Cabot  and  the  Cortereals.  Some  would 
believe  that  it  was  no  continent  at  all,  but  only  an  immense 
archipelago,  filled  with  passages  if  they  could  only  be  found. 
Coppo  had  mapped  it  in  this  way  in  1525.  Others  had  fol- 
lowed Oviedo  in  supposing  that  the  land  at  the  north,  at  one 
phice  at  least,  was  as  narrow  as  ii;  was  at  Panama  ;  for  this 
historian  in  1526,  in  his  "  Sumario,"  had  first  given  published 
indication  of  what  was  for  many  years  following  known  as  the 
Sea  of  Verrazano.  This  expanse  of  water  was  imagined  to 
fill  the  space  now  known  to  be  occupied  b}'^  the  two  great 
valleys  of  the  upper  Mississippi  and  the  great  lakes  ;  while  its 
easternmost  waves  nearl}'  broke  through  the  land,  to  mingle 
its  waters  with  the  Atlantic  somewhere  along  the  eastern 
seaboard  of  the  present  United  States. 

The  supposition  of  this  mysterious  sea  arose  from  an  inter- 
pretation of  Verrazano's  experiences  on  the  coast  in  1524, 
which  constitute  the  first  decided  and  official  manifestation 
of  French  activity  in  the  new  regions.  This  navigator  is  sup- 
posed to  have  become  acquainted  with  the  coast  from  Spanish 
Florida  to  the  seaboard  of  Maine  ;  and  his  explorations  were 
held  at  different  times  to  be  the  basis  of  the  French  claim  to 
territory  in  the  New  World.  Freville,  in  his  "Mdmoire"on  the 
commerce  of  Rouen,  prints  a  paper  by  Admiral  Chabot,  which 
shows  that  for  a  while  it  had  been  the  intention  of  Francis  L 
to  follow  up  this  voyage  of  Verrazano.  The  political  exi- 
gencies in  which  that  French  king  found  himself  involved 
had  caused  delays  ;  and  his  attention  was  not  again  seriously 
given  to  such  efforts  until  he  commissioned  Cartier  ten  years 
later.  During  this  decade  Verrazano's  notion  of  this  sea 
beyond  the  barrier  had  become  the  belief  of  a  school  of  geog- 


12 


raphers  ;  and  tlie  believers  in  it  found  it  not  difficult  to  count 
the  chances  good  of  reaciiing  it  by  a  strait  at  some  point  along 
the  Atlantic  coast. 

There  have  heen  two  maps  brought  into  prominence  of  late 
years,  whicii  reflect  this  belief.  One  is  the  map  of  Hieronomo 
da  Verrazano,  preserved  in  the  College  of  the  Propaganda  at 
Rome,  made  not  long  after  the  voyage  of  that  navigator  by 
his  brother.  This  chart  shows  this  sea  as  a  great  watery 
wedge  lying  athwart  the  interior  of  the  undeveloped  North 
America,  and  ^tointing  with  its  apex:  to  a  narrow  strip  of  land 
somewhere  in  the  latitude  of  Carolina,  Indeed,  one  might 
suppose  that  the  sailor  brother  of  the  cartographer  had  de- 
scribed to  him  a  stretch  of  sea  with  an  obscure  distance,  as 
he  saw  it  above  the  dunes  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cape 
Hatteras ;  while  the  cartographer  himself  had  given  his  fancy 
play  in  extending  it  to  the  west.  The  other  map  has  been 
brought  within  ten  years  to  help  elucidate  this  transient  faitli 
in  such  a  western  sea.  This  second  chart  had  long  been 
known  in  the  An:brosian  Library  at  Milan  as  the  work  of  the 
Viscoute  MaggiolD  (Maiollo)  ;  but  its  full  import  had  not 
been  suspected,  since  it  bore  the  apparent  date  of  1587.  The 
Abbe  Ceriani  had  discovered  its  true  date  to  be  1527,  and 
that  somebody  had  changed,  in  sport  or  in  mischief,  the 
figure  2  into  8.  Signor  Desimoni,  the  archivist  of  Genoa  and 
our  Corres[)onding  Member,  who  was  at  this  time  working  on 
the  Verrazano  problem,  happening  in  the  library,  was  struck 
with  the  coast  lines  and  legends  on  the  map  as  being  similar 
to  those  of  the  Propaganda  map,  with  which  he  was  familiar; 
and  he  first  brought  the  Maggiolo  map  to  the  attention  of 
students  in  18S2. 

The  Sea  of  Verrazano  is  much  the  same  in  the  two  mai)s, 
and  their  delineations  of  this  oceanic  delusion  marked  for  a 
good  many  years  yet  to  come  a  prevailing  opinion  as  to  the 
kind  of  goal  the  searchers  for  a  western  passixne  were  striving 
to  reach.  The  same  sea  is  found  in  the  well-known  English 
map  of  Michael  Lok,  published  by  Hakluyt  so  late  as  1582,  — 
or  nearly  forty  yeai's  after  the  close  of  the  series  of  explora- 
tions which  Cartier  conducted. 

While  it  is  probable  that  such  geographical  conditions  as  this 
Sea  of  Verrazano  supplied  were  a  considerable  incentive  to 
Francis  1.   to   renew  his  interest  in  explorations,  t^he  prob- 


1 


leni  was  complicated  by  another  view  which  an  eminent 
German  geogra})liei'  had  espoused,  and  which  had  ah-eady 
been  engaging  attention  for  some  ten  years.  The  conditions 
of  pohtical  and  social  life  which  Cortes  had  found  in  Mexico 
had  revived  the  old  hope  that  Cathay  had  at  last  been  found  ; 
and  the  reports  of  the  conc^uerors  whicii  were  sent  tj  Europe, 
with  all  their  exaggerations,  were  welcomed  as  far  more 
nearly  conforming  to  the  descriptions  of  Marco  Polo  than 
anything  which  had  been  discovered  among  the  West  Indies 
or  on  the  South  American  coasts.  If  the  region,  then,  which 
Cortes  had  sul)dued  was  in  truth  Asia,  the  ocran  whieii 
Magellan  had  crossed  made  an  inde[)endent  continent  of  South 
America  only  ;  while  the  nortiiern  spaces,  instead  of  being  an 
archipelago  or  a  continental  barrier,  must  be  sinijily  an  eastern 
extension  of  Asia,  and  its  coast  must  border  on  the  north 
Atlantic. 

It  is  known,  from  the  text  of  a  little  geographical  treatise 
(lo'\'i)  whicli  has  survived,  that  Schiiner,  a  famous  globe-maker 
of  Germany,  had  made  a  terrestrial  sphere  in  1528  ;  but  it 
l|  has  not  probabl}'  come  down  to  us.  Some  gores  which  were 
discovered  a  i'ew  years  ago  have  been  held  by  Henry  Stevens 
and  others  to  belong  to  this  globe  ;  but  they  delineate  North 
America  as  a  distinct  continent,  just  as  it  was  delineated  in 
other  globes  by  Schoner  of  an  earlier  date,  which  are  well 
known.  It  is  denied,  however,  by  Nordenskiiild,  that  these 
gores  can  be  of  so  early  a  date  as  1523,  and  he  places  them 
more  than  twenty  years  later.  Harrisse  has  later  still  exam- 
ined the  claim,  and  contends  that  the  gores  cannot  possibly 
be  those  by  Schoner  of  this  date,  because  it  seems  apparent 
from  his  treatise  that  the  globe  of  1528  must  have  been  made 
in  accordance  with  the  theory  of  an  Asiatic  extension  for 
North  America.  If  this  was  so,  —  and  Harrisse's  reasons  are 
not  without  effect,  —  tliis  theory  of  an  Asiatic  extension  in 
North  America  is  traced  to  Schoner  as  its  origiiuitor,  so  far  as 
is  known.  If  it  is  a  matter  of  contention  as  respects  Schiiner, 
it  is  certain  as  regards  a  little  figure  of  a  globe  made  by 
Franciscus  Monachus  in  1520,  which  unmistakably  I'epresents 
North  America  as  a  part  of  Asia.  Tliis  tlipory  got  a  lirm 
advocate  in  Orontius  Finicus  in  1581,  who,  nowever,  so  far 
departed  from  the  view  held  by  Franciscus  as  to  unite  Soutii 
America  to  the  Northern  continent  bv  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 


j; 


14 


while  the  otlier  luid  substituted  a  strait  in  place  of  that  con- 
nection. This  theory  was  made  prominent  in  so  well  known 
a  treatise  as  the  "  Novus  Orbis  "  of  GryniBus,  where  the  map 
of  Orontius  appeared  ;  and  at  intervals  through  that  century 
and  into  the  next,  other  expressions  of  tliis  view  appeared  in 
prominent  maps. 

If  Cartier  or  his  royal  master  had  entertained  the  expecta- 
tion of  his  expedition  penetrating  into  the  heart  of  northern 
Asia  when  it  started  for  the  gulf  back  of  Newfoundland,  it  is 
altogether  probable  that  its  equipment  would  not  have  been 
undertaken.  It  is  far  more  likely  that  the  faith  which  the 
earlier  expedition  of  Verrazano  had  developed  in  the  narrow- 
ness of  the  northern  continent  prevailed  at  Paris  and  St.  Malo 
when  Cartier  started  on  his  fateful  voyage. 


t 


I) 


'*} 


NOTE. 

The  Maiollo,  or  Maggiolo,  map  was  first  brought  to  the  attention  of  American 
scholars  by  the  late  Mr.  James  Carson  Brevoort  in  the  "  Magazine  of  American 
History,"  February  and  July,  1882.  Signor  Desimoni  first  gave  a  sketch  of  the 
North  American  parts  in  the  "  Atti "  of  the  Societa  Ligure  di  Storia  Patria 
(Genoa,  1881),  vol.  xv.  ;  and  this  was  reprinted  in  Appendice  iii.  of  the  Studio 
Secondo  of  his  "  Giovanni  Verrazano  "  (Genoa,  1881).  The  sketch  here  given 
was  reproduced  on  a  smaller  scale  by  Mr.  Winsor  in  the  "  Narrative  and  Crit- 
ical History  of  America,"  vol.  iv.  p.  39  (1884) ;  and  this  reduced  reproduction 
was  later  used  by  Prof.  E.  N.  Horsford  in  his  "  Discovery  of  America  by  the 
Northmen,"  .and  in  his  "John  Cabot's  Landfall."  Mr.  A.  J.  Weise,  in  his 
"  Discoveries  in  America  to  1525"  (New  York,  1884),  gave  a  reproduction  from 
the  original  of  both  Americas  ;  and  this  afforded  Mr.  Winsor  the  outline  which 
appears  in  the  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  vol.  ii.  p.  219.  Meanwhile  Dr. 
B.  F.  DeCosta,  who  had  published  his  "Verrazano  the  Explorer"  (New  York, 
1880)  before  Desimoni  had  brought  the  Maiollo  map  forward,  caused  a  negative 
to  be  made  of  the  original  on  four  glasses,  which  showed  the  whole  world.  This 
negative  he  gave  in  January,  1892,  to  the  library  of  Harvard  College.  The  two 
glasses  which  show  America  have  been  used  in  the  accompanying  reproduction. 
Since  De  Costa's  negatives  were  made,  another  of  the  American  parts  has  been 
used  by  Harrisse  in  the  reproduction  given  in  his  "  Discovery  of  North  America  " 
(London,  1892)  ;  and  the  North  American  parts  have  been  delineated,  but  not 
in  facsimile,  in  the  Atlas  of  Kretschmer's  "  Entdeckung  Anierika's  "  (Berlin, 
1892). 


of  that  con- 
>  well  known 
lere  the  map 
that  century 

appeared  in 

the  expecta- 
of  northern 
ndland,  it  is 
t  have  been 
1  which  the 
the  narrow- 
md  St.  Malo 


i 


on  of  American 
le  of  American 
.  sketcli  of  the 
i  Storia  Patria 

of  tlie  Studio 
ch  here  given 
itive  and  Crit- 
i  reproduction 
merica  by  the 
Weise,  in  his 
oduction  from 

outline  wliich 
Meanwhile  Dr. 
"  (New  York, 
ied  a  negative 

world.  This 
'ge.  The  two 
reproduction, 
arts  has  been 
rth  America" 
Jated,  but  not 
:a's"  (Berlin, 


N 


i 


\ 


i, 


I 


Uf» 


L»::«. 


'' 

/    \ 

/ 

• 

/ 

. 

•7 

-     .  ^  _ 

/ 

-..^ 

7 

'-aiitex 


.  \  I 


it 


A.^^  <»    « 


\    7 


i*^*^^''.^**/ 


I' 


AMERICAN   SECTIONS  OF  THE   M. 


V 


i:-L^!55r>'-V**;*^?^i*LiJk.r\  t^: 


r.CTlONS  OF  THE   MAIOLLO  MAP,   1597 


N 


o 


o\A^x\l  ina'-i^^^ 


,  <  I  »i^»y'-'*^"    *      'BUB  Itt  'J-^ 


■■MM— a———  wn 


/ 


K  I.-'  '.         \ 


>• 


^  \ 


:q  UTlinY' 


^ 


A£^ 


^: 


13U 


^-V- 


1»^'  -^ 


1 


oi.uT^tii  Ma!i^^-\ 


-  - \ 


fc? 


f 


/    ' 


?T?**.      '"'"  »,»■<  •'^V 

'*.:,..  T-       .\  -•  •-' 


H    :J  V'^l^',^ 


y 


>  v.^l 


\ 


,4^  1 


As 


AMERICAN  SECTIONS  OF  THE   MAIOLLO  M 


ja*"  •' 


^sa:i 


..  jAi'  n7/:\-^Ki' '-.1.  f  >.  7    _..--—'    ^^  •*'  .K 


^■r-  /!'■,-', 


j% 


y 


1  -M  / 


W  .}'•<'  f«.-,?. 


•■./ 


/     .  <'''  / 


X 


"^^x    :»\   4 


I 


^^^V 


OF  THE   MAIOLLO  MAP,   1527,       No.   2 


